7 Vegan Meals in 7 Days

Whether you’re choosing to adopt a vegan diet for personal health reasons, or your motivation is more morality centered, there are any number of benefits that go along with embracing the vegan lifestyle. However, hidden among the many advantages of being vegan, lies one glaring disadvantage: It can be difficult to find good recipes.

Seriously, sometimes it feels as though there isn’t a dish in the world that doesn’t contain some sort of meat, eggs, cheese, or other animal products. What can you do? Well, we suppose that you could resort to living a life spent munching on raw vegetables and drinking soymilk, but where’s the fun in that? Instead, allow us to share with you seven of our most favorite 100% vegan dishes, complete with recipes so that you can whip them up in the comfort of your own home. So, sit back and relax, and get ready to have your saliva glands kick it into overdrive, while we take you through a week’s worth of vegan meals.

7 Vegan Meals

At seeing the name of this first dish, most of you should be having alarm bells go off in your head, because cheese isn’t exactly vegan. But don’t worry, not only is the sauce (and every other bit) of this dish completely animal-product free, but it may very well also end up being the best tasting mac’ and cheese you’ve ever had. Special thanks go out to Allison Rivers Samson and VegNews.com for the recipe.

Add your 1 t sea salt and 4 qt water to a large pot, and bring it to boil. Add your macaroni, and cook it until al dente (cooked but firm). Drain the pasta into a colander and rinse it with cold water. Set the pasta aside.

Using a food processor, combine your bread and 2 tbsp of margarine, and blend until the mixture reaches a medium-fine texture. Set the bread crumbs aside.

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

Add your carrots, onion, potatoes, shallots, and 1 c water to a saucepan and bring it to a boil. Place a cover on the pan and allow it to simmer for 15 minutes or until vegetables have become soft.

Using a blender, combine the cashews, black pepper, cayenne, garlic, lemon juice, mustard, 2 tbsp sea salt, and ⅓ c margarine. Add the softened vegetables and water and blend until smooth. This will give you your cheese sauce.

Add the cooked pasta and the cheese sauce to a large bowl, and toss until the sauce completely covers the pasta. Spread the pasta into a 9 x 12 inch casserole dish and sprinkle your bread crumbs over the top of the mixture. Dust with paprika.

Bake the dish for 30 minutes, or until the cheese sauce begins to bubble and the top has turned a golden-brown color.

For many vegans, tofu is an absolutely vital part of a healthy diet. However, while many find the subtle taste and texture of tofu delightful, there are others who would just as soon avoid it. Kalyn at Kalynskitchen.com aims to convert those tofu detractors, by giving them a deliciously spicy and flavorful treat, in the form of Spicy Vegan Peanut Butter Tofu with Sriracha.

Using a colander, drain the tofu, and then place the tofu between double layers of paper towels and gently press down on the top paper towel to help absorb any residual liquid. Once you feel as though most of the liquid has been absorbed, cut the tofu lengthwise into strips approximately 1 inch wide. Place the tofu aside.

Using a wire whisk, combine your agave, peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and stock or water. Add the Sriracha sauce to taste (Sriracha can be very spicy, and if you’ve never tried it before, you should probably start with a small amount and then add more until you reach your prefered spiciness level).

Heat a dry wok or heavy pan over high heat for approximately 1 minute. Add the peanut oil, and heat for approximately 30 seconds more. Add the sliced garlic and ginger, and cook for another 30 seconds or so (until they start to become fragrant). Remove the garlic and ginger and discard.

Add your tofu pieces to the oil, and lower the heat to medium high. Cook the tofu for approximately 7–8 minutes, turning it regularly until it is nicely browned (but not burnt) on both sides.

Once the tofu is browned, add the sauce and reduce the heat to low. Cook the mixture until the sauce thickens and coats the tofu pieces. Be careful not to cook the sauce for too long, otherwise it will become too thick to use. Remove the pan from the heat. Remove the tofu pieces and place them on a plate, and then pour the sauce over the top of them.

There are few foods as wholesome and comforting as soup, especially once the weather starts to turn cold, and especially when the soup in question is nice and rich. But while most creamy soups may be off-limits for those living the vegan lifestyle (what with the cream and all), Stephanie Moram at Goodgirlgonegreen.com has managed to create an exceptional recipe for a soup that will satisfy your hunger, warm your body, and tantalize your tastebuds.

Sometimes you need your meal to be fast, easy, and capable of being eaten while on the go. For times like these, there are few options that are better for you than a nice green smoothie—or rather, in this case, a green thickie. This recipe will show you how to turn an entire meal’s worth of vegan foods into a tasty drink that will empower your body, enliven your mind, and not disrupt your busy schedule. And best of all, once you get the hang of this basic recipe, you can start experimenting by adding other ingredients, because the only thing better than a nutritious and delicious smoothie, is a nutritious and delicious smoothie that has been tailored to your own specific tastes. Special thanks to Katherine Kyle at Greenthickies.com for this invaluable contribution.

In a blender, combine your dry ingredients and your liquid. Blend together for a short time.

Add your greens to the mixture, and blend for a short time.

Add the rest of the ingredients, and then blend until the resultant mixture is smooth. This may take up to 10 minutes (for lower speed blenders).

By adding the ingredients at different times, you’ll be able to fit all of your ingredients into the blender, as well as prevent your fruits from becoming too hot. If you want a thinner smoothie, simply add more water.

Drink up and enjoy the fact that you’re getting an entire vegan meal’s-worth of nutrients in the form of a refreshing smoothie!

Enjoying old-world European dishes while adhering to a new-world vegan lifestyle can be tough. After all, the accepted “food pyramid” used to be a lot heavier in meat and animal products. Still, with a bit of creativity, you can turn almost any non-vegan dish into a totally vegan meal. Take these stuffed cabbage rolls, for instance, which come to us courtesy of a guest post by Jackie on Vegan Miam.

Cut out the core from the bottom of the cabbage head and place it in a large pot filled with water. Add 1 tsp of salt and bring the water to boil over high heat.

Reduce the heat to medium an allow the water to boil for 15–20 minutes.

Mix the vegetable broth and liquid aminos, and soak the TVP granules in the mixture for about 10 minutes. They should soak up most of the liquid (if they don’t, then leave them in the mixture for a bit longer).

Transfer your TVP mixture over to a food processor, and combine it with the lentils, olive oil, onion, pecans, ¼ tsp salt and ¼ tsp black pepper, and sun dried tomatoes. Pulse the food processor until the resultant mixture has the texture of ground beef.

Remove the mixture, and fold the rolled oats into it. Set the mixture aside. This will be your filling.

After the cabbage has boiled for the allotted time, drain it in a colander. Allow it to drain and cool.

Carefully peel off the leaves from the cabbage so as not to tear them, and then cut the rib from off of each piece of lettuce so that the individual leaves are thinner and easier to roll.

Place approximately ½ cup of your filling into each cabbage leaf (depending on the size of the leaves). Tuck in the sides of each leaf, roll them completely, and place them loose-side down in a casserole dish. Continue until all of the filling has been used.

Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).

Place a medium saucepan on medium heat, and pour in your tomato sauce. Stir in your garlic powder, Italian seasoning, onion powder, ⅛ tsp black pepper, ¼ tsp salt, and tomato sauce, and allow it to heat until it begins to simmer.

Carefully pour the mixture over the cabbage rolls in the casserole dish, and then allow the rolls to bake in the oven for 20 minutes.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and few of us can deny that dinner tends to get more than its fair share of attention, but who really has time to whip up a nice lunch? Most of us end up settling for a quick snack, a microwaved meal, or even fast food, but we could be doing better. These chickpea salad wraps—shared with us by Angela at Ohsheglows.com—might be the answer we’re looking for. Easy to make, delicious to eat, and totally vegan, these wraps will have you enjoying your lunch time like never before.

Speaking of lunch, here’s one more tasty treat that can give the middle of your day the boost it needs. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with a sandwich for dinner, either, and this particular sandwich is one that will satisfy your cravings at any time, day or night. Oh, and once you have the ingredients, you can whip the whole thing up in a matter of just a few minutes. How’s that for an easy meal? Special thanks to Brook Lark at Cheekykitchen.com for the recipe.

People all around the world use Blendtec blenders in their homes, restaurants, smoothie shops, coffee shops and more. We continue to keep dreaming of new and better ways to build machines that improve the lives of others. It all began with one man and his curiosity. Tom has shared that vision with others, and with his team, the dream continues to unfold.

(2) Comments on “7 Vegan Meals in 7 Days”

I’m thrilled that you shared my original Mac ‘n Cheese recipe in your vegan meals collection. Thank you so much! I have a new one with even healthier ingredients here: http://bit.ly/comfortably-yum. Of course the recipe still uses your awesome blender!